Feed mechanism



F. V. HART.

FEED MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 22, 1916. RENEWED NOV- 11.1917.

1 3 5 2, Hi? Patented Sept. 14, 1920.

2 mation 30 easily carriedi'out when f na rron or new JERSEY..

To all whom it may concern: i-

Be it' known that LFRED VII-TART, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lynn,

in the county of Essex and State of Massa- 5 chusetts', have invented certain new and useful-Improvements in Feed Mechanism; and I do hereby declare the following to 'bea full,

" clear, and exact description of the invention,

such as will enableothersskilled in the art L0 to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to the feeding of pieces of heel material which are tapering or non-uniform in thickness, and lthas spe- L5 cial reference'to method of and means for feeding pieces of sheet heel material that are of wedge -shaped "or uniformly tapering cross-section, such as the ordinary dinked or polygonal wedge lifts employedin the forof shoe-heels, or the elongated tapering strips from which such lifts are cut.

In feeding flat or uniformly thick pieces of heel material Whether in sheet form or' otherwise, it is common to stack such pieces in face-to-face relation in a suitable straight magazine which-is substantially the size or slightly larger than the pieces themselves, and to eject them successively from one end of the magazine. This mode of operation is the pieces are fiat or uniform in thickness, as they will stack in substantially parallel positions" when lying loosely the one against the other,either in superposed or in side-by-side relation.

Moreover, they will maintain andwpreserve this substantially fixed'relation while being freely fed through the magazine.

Howeven'whenpieces of sheet heel material that are tapering or irregular in'thick- 40 ness are stacked loosely the one against the other in the manner and by the means einployed in the prior art for feeding 'flat pieces, the pieces will, by" reason of their tapering character, tend to stack radially the one against the, other, thus crowding or jamming the pieces in the magazine and preventing the pieces from being fed freely and umformly. For instance, 1f a vertical straight magazine of substantially the size "lifts or pleces may any reasonable and indeterminate length,

otherwise irregularin one dimension, a stack of indeterminate length 1n which v the central plane of'ea ch piece bears a fixed V "FR-an v. HART, or mm, MASSACHUSETTS, lasers-Non, n-YjMnsNE 'assrenlvrunrsmo UNITED snon MACHINERY coaroaa'rron; or

rarnnson, NEW, JERSEY, 'A con'ro FEED MECHANISM,"

pe a n of r a n Patented Sept. 14 1920.

Renewed-November 17, 1917. SeriaINo. 262343.

or slightly largerthan the pieces to be operated upon, be employed in; the Way common to fiat or uniformly thick pieces or lifts, the

radial formation, above referred to, becomes 1 3 prohibitive and blocks the free feeding when more than relatively few pieces are stacked. In fact, the number of tapering pieces that can be stacked.- and fed in the manner of the prior art is so few as to be entirely imprac.

ticable'anduseless in a, commercial machine.

The successful operation of such a machme requires a simple and practical mechanism for feeding stacks of tapering lifts-0r strips of sheet material, "in which stacks of indeterminate length maybe loaded in position in the magazine and fed-therefrom with regularity and facility, whereby only a moderate amount of attention and relatively infrequent loading ofthe machine is demanded of the operator,

Obviously, no particular length of stack is necessary,although for most satisfactory operation, it should be capable ofcbeing materially greater than the' very restricted length of radially disposed piecesthat can be handled in the rnanner and by the means that have been heretofore employed for feeding'flat lifts or pieces of sheet-material.

The construction and arrangements of parts must, however, be such that the tapering be uniformly stacked to and be successfullyffed while maintaining.

their relative substantially fixed relationship. For commercial operation, the stack is preferably long, but if desired, may be relatively short. In thissense, the requisite characteristic of the 'stack'is that it is indeterminate in length, and that the several tapering pieces which "composeit shall be so positioned as to maintain a substantially fixed mutual relationship;throughout the feeding operation.

' One object of the invention, therefore,'is

to provide a method of feedingpieces of sheet heel material, that are taperingor from .of non-uniform thickness.

relation to the central planes of the contiguous pieces, which method involves advancing such a stack in the direction of its length while maintaining the pieces in fixed mutual; relationship, and removing" the piecesisuceessively from the' 'endiof thes'tack to which they ar'e fed...

I inother object of theinvention is to pro- 7 v'idefa feed-inecl'ianism in which lifts'orj piecesof sheet heel material, that are taper ing or otherwise irregular in one dimension, may be stacked to an indeterminate length" in proper relation to each other that they removed may be freely fed and ejected or from'one endof thestack, while. 111aintaining a substantially fixed mutual relationship throughout the operation. 7 c v To the foregoing ends,one illustrative embodiment of the invention contemplates a 20 construction and arrangement and location of parts such that a plurality of tapering,or otherwise non-uniform piecesfof sheet heel material may be stacked to an indeterminate length in face-toface relation with their thick ends in engagement andtheir thin ends positively and individually.spaced apart so .as to secure and preserve a substantially definite and fixedparallel relation of the component elements of the stack. y

In accordance with this embodiment of -the invention, pieces of .the kind in question are stacked in approximately parallel face-to-face relation in anupright or 1n vclinedmagazine having two parallel walls the other wall thereof, whereby they are positively spaced apart and their central planes are maintained in approximately par- ,alle'l relation throughout the feeding and ejecting or removing operation- 7 Although, fOl'..1llU.St1LtlVG purposes, the

7 present invention is set forth in connection with a mechanism of specific structural details, it should be understood that the inven tion is not inany sense so restricted and that the advantages and benefits thereof are readily obtainable by mechanisms of widely different characters which embody the basic principles of construction and operation and which fall within the scope and spirit of the invention. Therefore, onlysuch limitations should be imposed as are indicated in the appended claims In the drawings,Figure 1 is a vertical section, on the line 1-1 in Fig. 2, of feed- .mechanism embodying the present, inventhe strips as shown in Fig. .1.

tion, Fig. 2 is a vertical section on the line 22 in Fig 1; Fig. 3 is a perspective View of a strip of sheet-material such as the mechanism in Figs. 1 and 2 is adaptedto feed; and Fig; 'lis a perspective .view-ofa ,polygo nal ivedge-shaped: heel-lift such as may. be cut from the stripof Fig. 3; or may be fed by a mechanism substantially the same as 7 that offFigs l and 2. V I The invention is illustrated 'jas enib odied in mechanism adapted particularly forfeed-' ing wedge-shaped strips of sheet-material such'as those from which wedge-shaped heel-liits-are out. In this machine, strips 7 6 of sheet-material ane stacked;1n.,.a magaz1ne comprising parallel walls 8 and 10, which engage the opposite'longitudinal edges of The wall '8 is interrupted for a short distance at-the bottom, so to. form'a space or recess 14:

of the -magazine is. formed by a horizontal plate 12, anjdthe wall 10 is mounted upon this plate by means of lugs 16 whichare ad- .oppositethe thickand lower edge of the; lowermost strip in the stack. The bottom justably fixed on the plate by thumb-screws 18 extending through slots in the lugs. This .arrangementpermits the wall 10 to be adjusted toward and from the wall 8, and the adjustment-is so made thatjthe space between the walls 8- and 10 is less than the width .of thestrips 6. Accordingly, the strips may be stacked inithe magazine in the positions shown in Fig. 1,.in which the cen .tral planes thereof are in parallelism and in which their thinner edges are higherrthan their thick edges and are -sup1f)oited by leaning against the wall 10. j

The lowermosttstrip of the stack is .separated from the other strips, for the purpose of feeding it, by moving itin the direction of its thick and more advancededge into the recess 14. For this purpose, 1 em ploy two feed-dogs .20, which have toothed extremities adapted to engage the lower surface of the lowermost strip. hese dogs are 1 carried at the upper ends of arms .22 pro jecting rigidly from a rock-shaft 24, which is journaled on the frame of the machine.

Each dog 20 is connected with the corre sponding arm 22 byapivot 26, and a spring 28 tends to rock the dog ina direction to throw its toothedend upwardly. This rocking movement is limited, however, by a stop lug 30 on the arm .22. A spring 32, which connects one of the arms v22 ,with the frame of the machine, tends to swing the arms in a direction to cause the dogsto engage and move the lowermost strip.- The opposite movement ofthe arms and dogsis produced y cam-mechanism. For this purpose, an

arm 34:, projecting rigidly from the rockshaft 24, carries a cam-roller- 36 which engages a cam 38 fixed on a cam shaft 40. This s ft may be paten e fina ly nven n manner,iwithfa suitable source of power so as to rotate it constantly. i l i 4 The I feed-dogs work through openings in the plate 12, and these openings terminate insuch a position, asshownbydotted lines in Fig. 1, thatvwhenthefeed-dogs are inthe retracted position shown in the drawings,

they engage the'ends of the "openings-and their toothedends are thereby. depressed below the upper surface of the plate'l2. When the feed-dogs perform their operative movement, they engage the lower surface of the lowermost strip and move or shift the'strip in the direction of its thick, end to the posithe lowermost strip isheld flat uponthe supporting plate 12 in definite position to be removed or fed;

' It will be apparent that by a sufiiciently long movement ofthe feed-dogs 20, the strip might be expelled entirely from the stack by the lateral movement above de- ,movement above described.

scribed.. In the mechanism illustrated, however, the strip is removed from the stack by an endwise movement following the To produce such endwise movement, the mechanism is provided with a table 44' extending from :the end of the chute, and a slide-bar attiinoves beneath this table and carries a. itoothed feed-(log 48 whichis pivoted to the slide-- bar and is pressed upwardly, at its toothed end, by a spring 52. The feed-dog 48 works through a slot 50 in the plate 12 and the table 44-, and when theslide-bar 46 is moved to the right, ,by any suitable mechanism which need not be here described, the dog as engages thelower surface of the .strip which has been brought to the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1, andpulls it out of the chute, one end-wall 4-2 of the chute beingprovidech'at the bottom, with an openin this movement of the strip.

An important feature of the operation above described is. that the preliminary imovement of the lowermoststrip, inthe direction of its more advanced. and lower edge,- has the effect of frictionally drawing the. next strip above into closeengagement with the wall 8, S038 to resist the tendency which the falling strip would otherwise-have to swing about its upper edge and thus move out of parallelism with thestrips above. 7

. pieces 9;, as shown in Fig. 2,,to permit I and the table 44' may be a part of 'themachine in which this-strip is cut into short )ieces such as that shown in Fi 4 which may then be used in the construction of heels. Itwill' be apparent, however, that by a mere change in the dimensions of the feedmechanism, it may be adapted to feed pieces like those 'of Fig.4 after they have been formed, either bythecutting of a strip likeviously, wedge-shaped'pieces. in the form of thatin Fig. 3 or in anyother manner.

the common'dinked heel lifts of,cur.ved con I tour may be readily manipulated in the manner and by=the mechanism set forth.

. Vhat is claimed as new, is

1. "A shoe machine for delivering tapering of sheet heel material, having, in combination, means for holding a stack of such pieces and for supporting independently the thin ends of such pieces while the thick ends rest against each other; and separate means for discharging the pleces successively from one end of the stack, I

2. A shoe maclnne for delivering tapering pieces of sheetheel material, having, in

combination, means for holdinga stack of such pieces by engagement with opposite sides thereof, said pieces having their thick ends contiguous and the thin ends spaced apart to preserve a substantially paralle'l'relation of the pieces; and means for discharging the pieces successively from one end of thestack. 1 i v:

. 3. A shoe machine for delivering pieces of sheet heel material, having, in combination, a magazine having a bottom support and opposite walls the distance between which is less than thecorresponding dimension of the pieces to be delivered, so that the piecesmay be stacked therein inpositions inclined to the bottom support of themaga'zlne; and

means acting on the endinost piece in the stack for separating it therefrom by a lateral movement in'the general direction of its more advanced end.v y l f i. A shoe machine for delivering pieces of sheet heel material, having, in combination, a magazine having opposite walls the distance between which is less than the corresponding dimension of the pieces to. be delivered, sojthat the piecesmaybe stacked therein in a position incline'djto the length of the magazine; and means acting on the outer surface of the endmost piece in the stack for separating t therefrom by a movement in a direction substantiallynormal to the planes of the walls of the magazinev 5. A shoe machine for delivering pieces-of sheet heel, material, having, in combination, a magazine arranged at a sufficient angle to the horizontal to permit pieces of material stacked therein to descend by gravity, said magazine having a jhorizontal bottom sup- Flg; 3 shows one ofthe strlps 6 whlch thejv port and'two' opposite side walls spaced apart a distance less than the corresponding dimension o'f'sai d pieces so that the pieces are stz-ickedtherein in positions inclined to the bottomsupport; and means for discharging the lowermost piece' from the stack.

6. A shoe machine for dellvermg pieces of sheet'heel material, having, in combinatlon', a magazine having opposlte walls the distance between which is less than the corresponding dimension of the pieces to 'be delivered, so that thepieces may be stacked therein in inclined position, one of said walls beinginter-rupted at the bottom of the stack; andmeansftor moving the lower end of the lowermost piece in the'sta-ck into the space afforded by the interruption of said wall, so as to permit the opposite end "of said piece to fall clear of the other wall of the magazine.

7. A shoe machine for delivering'pieces of sheet heel material, having, in combination, a magazine having opposite walls the distance between which is less than the corresponding dimension of the" pieces to be delivered, so that the pieces may be stacked therein in inclined position, one of said 1 walls being interrupted at the bottom of the stack; and means for moving the lower end of-the lowermost piece in the stack into the space afforded by the interruption of said wall, so as to permit the opposite end of said piece to fall clear of the other wall of the magazine, and for thereafter removing'said piece from the magazine by a movement in a direction different its first described movement.

'8. Feed-mechanism, having, in combina tion, a magazine with parallel walls between which strips of sheet-material, wider than the space between the walls, may be stacked in inclined position, one of said walls being interrupted'at the bottom of the stack; and means for moving the lowermost strip firstlaterally into the space afforded 7 from that of by the interruption of said wall, and then longitudinally out of the magazine.

9. A shoe machine for delivering tapering pieces of sheet heel material having, in combination, a n agazine having parallel-walls for retaining a plurality of said pieces that are stacked therein in inclined and parallel position with their thick ends resting the one against the other and their thin ends resting against one of the walls oil said magazine, and means for ejecting the endmost piece. 7 i

'10. A shoe 'machine for delivering tapering pieces of sheet heel material having, in combination, 'means for holding to be fed a plurality of said pieces in stacked and parallel relation with their thick ends in engagement and their'thin ends spaced' apart comprising means engaging the thick ends and the thin ends of said pieces and acting thereon in the planes of the tapers,

andmeans for e ecting the pieces V atone end of the stack as theyare fed. 1

- 11. A shoe machine for delivering tapering pieces of sheet-heel material having in combination, means for holding to be fed 1 a pluralityv of said pieces in stacked relation and comprising means-engaging therespectivethick' and thinlends of sa d p eces and actlng thereon in the planes'of the "tapers, and means for 'successively ejecting pleces-at one end ofthe stack as they are fed. v 1 12. A shoe machine for delivering tapering pieces of sheet heel material having,'in combination, means for holding to be fed a plurality of said pieces iii-stacked relation with their thickends in engagement-and comprising parallelly disposed members acting upon the thick ends and thin ends of said pieces in the planes of the tapers, and

means for eje'ctingthe pieces at one end of the stack as they are fed. c v

'13. A shoe machine for delivering tapering pieces of sheet heel material having, in

combination, means for holding to be fed a plurality o'fsaid piecesin'stacked relation with their thick ends in engagement, and means acting transversely of the'stack for engaging the pieces at one end thereof and positively ejecting them as they are 'fed.

14. A shoe machine for delivering uniformly tapering pieces of sheet heel ma terial having, in combination, means for holding to be fed a plurality ofsaid-pieces in stacked relation with their central planes in parallelism, and means for engaging the successive pieces as they are fed and positively removing them from the holding IHGELIIS.

I 15. A-shoe machine for delivering uniformly tapering pieces of sheet heel material having, in combinatlon, means for holding ,formly tapering pieces ofsheet heel material having, in combination, means for holding to be fed a plurality of said pieces in' stacked faceto-face relation and for definitely determining the removal position-of said pieces, and means for-removing the positioned pieces at one end ofsaid holding means. c

i 17. A shoe machine for delivering unitormly tapering pieces of sheet heel material having, in combination, means forholding' a stack of indeterminate length ofsaid pieces that are-disposed in face-to-face re- 1-'3( stack,

lation and are maintained in I fixed relation- 1 ship as they "are fed throughsaid holding 1 for removing means, andseparate means the p eces as they arefed to'one end of the 18. formly tapering pieces of sheet heel material having, in combination, means for holding a stack of indeterminate length-f said pieces that are disposed in face-to-face relation with their thick ends in engagement and maintainig such relationship as they are, fed, and means for engaging the successive pieces as they are fed to one end of the stack and laterally and positivelyejecting them therefrom in the plane of the articles,

19. A. shoe machine for delivering uniformly tapering pieces ofsheet heel-material r havin in combination, means'for holding b7 s y I u c I to be fed a plurahty of sa d pieces 1n stacked face-toface relation with their respective thick ends and thin ends positively supported throughoutthe feeding operation, means for definitely determining the removal positionpf said pieces, and means for removing the successive pieces as they are fed into said removal position.

20. A shoe machine for delivering taper-..

sheet heel material having, in

ing pieces of and arcombination, means constructed ranged to hold and maintain as they are of indeterminate length of said fed a stack p I pieces that are disposed in face-to-face' parallel relation with their thin ends spaced apart, and means for success1velyremov1ng said pieces as they are fed to one end-of the stack. 7 1

21. The method of feeding tapering pieces of sheet heel material which comprises arranging a plurality of said pieces ina stack of indeterminate length and in face-to-face relation wlth their central planes in parallehsm and their th1n ends spaced apart, feeding the stack of pieces inthe direction of its length While maintaining the pieces in fixed mutual relationship, and removing the suc v cessive pieces from the end of the stack to which they are fed. v v

22. A shoe machine for delivering tapering pieces of sheet heel material having, in combination, means for holding a stack of said pieces in parallel relation throughout the greater portion of its length and for.

successively modifying the positions of the pieces as they approach the end of thestack,

and means for successively removing the endmost pieces from the holding means.

23. A shoe machine for delivering tapering pieces of sheet heel material having, in combination, means for holding av stack of said pieces in parallel relation throughout the greater portion of its length and for successively laterally shifting the pieces in the direction of their thick ends as they ap A shoe machine for {delivering uni combination,

" having,

preach the end of the stackf'andmeans for. engagingthe' successive endmost pieces and removing them from the holding means.- T

' 2A. A; shoe machine for delivering tapercombination, means for holding throughout the-greater portion of its length a=pluralityof-s'aid pieces in aline'd'and'stacked parallel relation, and for successively shifting the pieces laterally inthe direction of their thick ends as they approach the end of the stack ing pieeesof sheet heel'materiahhaving, in p to transfer-the weight of the stack and cause the endmost'piece to he flat in a definite removal position, and means for removlng the endmost piece so positioned. v H 25. A shoe machlne for deliver ng taper- 'ing pieces of sheet heel material having, in

combination, means for holding to be fed a lation, a support for the lowermost piece of the stack, and means for causing the weight of the stack to act upon the lowermost. piece stack of said pieces disposed in parallel re,

forward of the thick end thereof and hold it flat in definite position upon the support.-

. 26. A. shoe machine for delivering tapermg pieces of sheet heel material having, in

stack of said pieces disposed in parallel relameans for holding to be fed a i tion, a support for the lowermost piece of j the stack, means for causing the weight of the stack to act upon the lowermost piece forward of the thick endthereof and hold it fiat in definite position upon the support,

and ejecting means laterally movable in a 1 plane, immediately abovesaidsupport for engaging and removing the endmost piece definitely positioned thereon.

i I 27. A shoe machine for delivering tapersheet heel material having, in

ing pieces of combination, a support, a magazine above said support for holding to be fed a stack of said pieces disposed in parallel relation, said magazine having an offset portion at its lower end to permit the successive lowermost the stack to lie flat upon said supof sheet material which comprises arranging.

a plurality. of said pieces in a stack of inde- Y terminate length and in face-to-face relation with their a central planes in parallelism,

' feeding the stack of pieces in the direction of its length while maintaining the pieces in ",parallelism, and removing, the successive. pieces from the end of the stack to which they are'fecl. v i r 80. The method of feeding tapering-pieces 5 of sheet heel material which comprises er- .7 ranging a plurality of said pieces in a. stack of indeterminate length with the central plane of each piece bearing a fixedi relation t0 the central planecf; each c0ntigu0us piece, feedingzthe stack of piecesin the direction of 10 its length whilev maintaining the pieces in fixecl mutual relationship and removing'fl the successive pieces from the end of the stack to whichthey are fed FRED It is hereby certified that in Letters Patent No. 1,352,747, granted September 14,-

1920, upon the application of Fred V. Hart, of Lynn, Massachusetts, for an improvement in Feed Mechanism, an error appears in the printed specification requiring correction as follows: Page 5, line 116, claim 28, first occurrence, strike out the word to and that the said Letters Patent should be read with this correction therein that the same may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Office.

Signed and sealed this 2nd day of November, A. D., 1920.

[SEAL] L. B. MANN,

Acting Commissioner of Patents. Ci. l242 

